Current Events > insurance companies had a stellar year thanks to Trump and Obama

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.axios.com/the-health-insurance-stock-boom-of-2017-1515110975-7f708b75-6367-40ef-beb4-726541f519c1.html

Even though the failed attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act created uncertainty and distractions, the health insurance industry still reaped record profits as it benefited from people using less expensive health care settings.

The Dow Jones index rose by about 24% in 2017. The only major insurer with a stock price that didn't surpass that pace was Humana.

The rest ranged from 37% growth to 76% growth
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tag

thanks Trump/Obama!
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I'm thrilled for them.
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What did Obama do to bring this on, exactly?
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The insurance companies wrote the law, so story checks out.
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darkjedilink posted...

What did Obama do to bring this on, exactly?

Pass a law that broadened their consumer base by pushing more healthy people to purchase insurance.
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Antifar posted...

darkjedilink posted...

What did Obama do to bring this on, exactly?

Pass a law that broadened their consumer base by pushing more healthy people to purchase insurance.

So what did Trump do?
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Antifar posted...

darkjedilink posted...

What did Obama do to bring this on, exactly?

Pass a law that broadened their consumer base by pushing more healthy people to purchase insurance.

tbh, expanding Medicaid has been more lucrative for insurance companies than the creation of the individual marketplaces, which do not represent a very large share of people who purchase insurance

though as the article notes, Centene, which deals with medicaid and ACA exchanges, had the best year, so...
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BLAKUboy posted...

So what did Trump do?

caused the stock market to rally generally through a combination of tax cuts, cuts in regulatory burdens, and the general rally due to the optimism business has when the GOP is in power
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As long as insurance companies are happy
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voldothegr8 posted...

The insurance companies wrote the law, so story checks out.

You sure? Cuz libs LOVED talking about how they wrote it with no Republican support for years, until it single-handedly cost them the House and Senate. Then it was Republicans wrote it, insurance companies, wrote it, Big Pharma wrote it - anything so Dems wouldn't have to be responsible for their massive, $1.2 Trillion fuckup.
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Antifar posted...

darkjedilink posted...

What did Obama do to bring this on, exactly?

Pass a law that broadened their consumer base by pushing more healthy people to purchase insurance.

You mean pushing more sick people, since insurance companies had to take them. Meanwhile, healthy people stopped buying insurance because the rates were so high.
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its more complicated than healthy vs sick

the whole essential health benefits thing does make it very difficult to determine what any particular persons prices would be without them, though
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Bullet_Wing posted...

When people no longer are required to have insurance and leave the pool, without any other reforms in the process, won't that just result in higher premiums?

Well, yeah.

I meant more of a retrospective comparison -- I feel like a lot of the people who complain about increasing premiums do not even realize what all is covered by these EHBs, and so discount what the increased price is caused by

like, the biggest contributor to increasing premiums under the ACA was the inclusion of prescription drug benefits, which contribute about 30% of the premium increases we've seen since the ACA passed (vs. something like 1-2% each for substance abuse and mental health treatment and pregnancy)

so people are complaining that their prices skyrocketed and then ignore all the other things their insurance now covers for them while overblowing the stuff they have to pay for even though they don't benefit (another example being contraceptives)

I just mean that the comparison of a pre-EHB and post-EHB regime is very difficult for those reasons
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darkjedilink posted...

What did trump do to bring this on, exactly?

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Either way I think the new Obama requirements will create a level playing field among insurance and medical necessity. One of the reasons I was in favor of the individual mandate was that, it put the onus on the federal government to negotiate better terms with big pharma, something the people can't do. Of course the GOP bent over backwards to weasel out of that one, heaven forbid they actually do any good for once. But its good they show people where they actually stand as far as giving a shit about the country.
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If Obama deserves credit for this, then Bush deserves credit for the slight recovery in 2009.
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KazumaKiryu posted...

If Obama deserves credit for this, then Bush deserves credit for the slight recovery in 2009.

I don't understand the comparison, but do serious people who think stimulus spending was good not credit Bush for his round of stimulus?
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KazumaKiryu posted...

If Obama deserves credit for this, then Bush deserves credit for the slight recovery in 2009.

The report seems to credit Obama for forcing consumers to look into cheap healthcare, similar to what I was just saying. Not too many details though. Not sure if I agree with everything TC is saying.
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